Message of Ramadan: Are We Listening to it?
By Khalid Baig
We observe Ramadan every year. Do we also listen to it?
Ramadan is the most important month of our calendar. It is a tremendous gift
from Allah in so many ways. In our current state of being down and out, it can
uplift us, empower us, and turn around our situation individually and collectively.
It is the spring season for the garden of Islam when dry grass can come back
to life and flowers bloom. But these benefits are not promised for lifeless
and thoughtless rituals alone. They will be ours if our actions are informed
by the message of Ramadan.
Today the message of Ramadan tends to get drowned out by much louder voices
of the pop culture that have an opposite message. We have become so accustomed
to them that many of us remain enslaved to them even during Ramadan.
The most important message of Ramadan is that we are not just body. We are
body and soul. And that what makes us human beings and that determines
our value as human beings is the soul and not the body. During Ramadan we deprive
the body to uplift the soul. This is all simple and familiar. But we can understand
its significance if we remember that the message of the materialistic hedonistic
global pop culture that has engulfed every Muslim land today --- just like the
rest of the world--- is exactly the opposite. It says that body is everything.
That the materialistic world is all that counts. That the greatest happiness
-- if not virtue-- is in filling the appetites of the body. This message produces
endless appetites and consequently endless wars to fill those endless appetites
through endless exploitation. It produces endless frustrations since the gap
between desires and achievements can never be filled. It produces endless chaos
and endless oppression. Yet this trash comes in such beautiful and enticing
packages that we can hardly resist it. We equate this slavery with freedom.
We consider this march to disaster as progress. And with every movement, we
get further and deeper into the mire.
Ramadan is here to liberate us from all this. Here is a powerful message that
it is soul over body. Take a break from the pop culture. Turn off the music
and TV. Say goodbye to the endless and futile pursuit of happiness in sensory
pleasures. Rediscover your inner self that has been buried deep under it. Reorient
yourself. Devote your time to the reading of the Qur'an, to voluntary worship,
to prayers and conversations with Allah. Reflect on the direction of your life
and your priorities. Reflect on and strengthen your relationship with your Creator.
On the last day of one Sha'ban, Prophet Muhammad, gave a Khutbah about the
upcoming month of Ramadan. It is a very important Khutbah that we should carefully
read before every Ramadan to prepare ourselves mentally for the sacred month.
It begins: "Oh people! A great month is coming to you. A blessed month. A month
in which there is one night that is better than a thousand months. A month in
which Allah has made it compulsory upon you to fast by day, and voluntary to
pray by night. Whoever draws nearer to Allah by performing any of the voluntary
good deeds in this month shall receive the same reward as is there for performing
an obligatory deed at any other time. And whoever discharges an obligatory deed
in this month shall receive the reward of performing seventy obligations at
any other time. It is the month of Sabr (patience), and the reward for sabr
is Heaven. It is the month of kindness and charity. It is a month in which a
believer's sustenance is increased. Whoever gives food to a fasting person to
break his fast, shall have his sins forgiven, and he will be saved from the
Fire of Hell, and he shall have the same reward as the fasting person, without
the latter's reward being diminished at all."
The hadith continues and contains many other very important messages. However
let us take the time to highlight two of the statements contained above. First,
that Ramadan is the month of sabr. The English translation is patience but that
word has a very narrow meaning compared to sabr. Sabr means not only patience
and perseverance in the face of difficulties, it also means being steadfast
in avoiding sin in the face of temptations and being persistent in performing
virtues when that is not easy. Overcoming hunger and thirst during fasting is
part of it. But protecting our eyes, ears, minds, tongues, and hands, etc. from
all sins is also part of it. So is being persistent in doing good deeds as much
as possible despite external or internal obstacles. Ramadan requires sabr in
its fullest sense and provides a training ground for that very important quality
to be developed and nurtured. Here is a recipe for the complete overhaul of
our life, not just a small adjustment in meal times.
The highest point of Ramadan is itikaf, an act of worship in which a
person secludes himself in a masjid to devote his time entirely to worshipping
and remembering Allah. Some in every Muslim community must take a break and
go to the masjid for the entire last ten days of Ramadan. Others should imbibe
the spirit and do whatever they can.
But we must differentiate between worldly pleasures and worldly responsibilities.
We take a break from the former and not the latter. Syedna Abdullah ibn Abbas,
Radi-Allahu unhu, was performing itikaf, when a person came and sat down silently.
Sensing his distressed condition Ibn Abbas enquired about his situation, learnt
that he needed help, and proceeded to leave the masjid to go out and help him.
Now this action does nullify the itikaf, making a makeup obligatory. So the
person, though grateful, was curious. Explaining his action, Ibn Abbas related
a hadith that when a person makes efforts to help his brother, he earns the
reward for performing itikaf for ten years.
This brings us to the second statement to consider: that Ramadan is the month
of kindness and charity. With those in distress in the millions in the world
today, the need for remembering this message of Ramadan cannot be overstated.
Unfortunately, today another scene seems to be dominant in some parts of the
Muslim world. Here Ramadan is the month of celebrations, shopping, fancy iftars
at posh restaurants, entertainment and gossip. People stay up at night but not
for worship; they while away that time watching TV or wandering in the bazaar.
Ramadan here is more a month of feasting than fasting.
No one can take away our Ramadan from us; we just give it away ourselves. And
if we realize the utter blunder we have made, we can take it back.
Date/Time Last Modified: 9/7/2006 1:05:35 PM
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